On
June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress approved a design for a national flag:
‘Resolved, that the Flag of the thirteen
United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the
Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new
constellation.’

Since 1916, when
President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential
proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14, Americans have
commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14
as Flag Day. Prior to 1916, many localities and a few states had been
celebrating the day for years. Congressional legislation designating that
date as the national Flag Day was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1949; the legislation also called
upon the president to issue a flag day proclamation every year.

According to
legend, in 1776, George Washington commissioned Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross to create a
flag for the new nation. Scholars debate this legend, but agree that Mrs. Ross
most likely knew Washington and sewed flags. To date, there have been
twenty-seven official versions of the flag, but the arrangement of the stars
varied according to the flag-makers' preferences until 1912 when President Taft
standardized the then-new flag's forty-eight stars into six rows of
eight. The forty-nine-star flag (1959-60), as well as the fifty-star flag,
also have standardized star patterns. The current version of the flag dates to
July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became the
fiftieth state on August 21, 1959. Other related treasures include Francis
Scott Key's "Star-Spangled Banner"
and John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

This entry is from Today in History, a great class starter with links
like the ones above for further student research.Of course, there are not many days left in
this academic year . . .

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